The Dolphins went back to back defense with the first 2 picks in this years draft, beginning with pick #22 DE Charles Harris. In the 2nd RD, the Dolphins selected Ohio State LB Raekwon McMillan. Boy did we need this pick. Sure, some of us liked other LB’s better, but McMillan is a potential 3 down LB who can play either inside or outside, and brings with him a good history of making tackles. Lord knows this defense was crying for just that.

McMillan was a 3YR starter at Ohio State, twice eclipsing 100 tackles, 119 his Sophomore year (57 solo), and 102 in his Junior year (49 solo). While it doesn’t appear that McMillan made a lot of unassisted tackles, he has a reputation for being a good technique tackler, who can for the most part, play sideline to sideline. While he needs to learn how to stack and shed blockers better, he’s only 20 years old, so he’ll have plenty of time to do just that. Our DC Matt Burke was formerly our LB’s coach, and I’m sure he’ll be taking an interest in McMillan, and getting him to be the best he can be.

McMillan has good size at 6’2” 240, and can certainly run well enough. He ran a 4.61 40, and put up 23 reps. He most likely won’t be starting immediately, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be seeing a fair amount of snaps. He gives the Dolphins considerably better depth, at a position that desperately needed it. Kiko Alonso, Lawrence Timmons and Koa Misi will likely be the starters provided all are healthy, but having McMillan as the next man up is reassuring to me. Yes, we have Neville Hewitt, Mike Hull, Lamin Barrow (quite right!), but none of those guys have stepped up yet. Hewitt shows some flashes, but for the most part, they all seem like backups. McMillan has good potential to be a starter, and his tackling ability may have him doing that sooner than later. Getting Timmons was a huge move. He greatly solidifies the LB corp, and will play both inside and out. On the other hand, Timmons is 31, and signed for 2 years, so McMillan will get time if he needs it, but it’s clear he was taken to be a future starter.

I’m looking forward to seeing an improved LB corps, one that won’t be the sieve it was last year. Whether it’s Timmons, Alonso and Misi, or McMillan subbed in for someone, already, things are looking up!

482 Responses to Raekwon McMillan #52 (RD2 Pick#54)

Mike E: Thanks so much for this article. Drafting McMillan is, in my view, the KEY to an improved linebacker corps As Dick Butkus once said; “SEE BALL CARRIER, KILL BALL CARRIER!”
NOW, if we’d moved up in round 3 and taken McMillan’s Buckeye team mate, Pat Elflein, I’d feel a whole lot better about our offensive line. But, perhaps, taking Tankersley in round 3 will prove to have been the better move. The Gase/Grier team has certainly earned the benefit of the doubt.

Even if not sure why the ranking was so low — they at least had one thing right about Tanny. The real Q is not if he should be our starter but rather if he plays well enough to justify the close to $20 mil he is on the books for.

Nice write MIke E……and I was pleased with the Raekwon pick. Who is going to complain about getting a good-sized tackler in there at LB? We’ll see if he ends up being more than that, but even if he doesn’t develop his coverage skills enough to be a 3-down LB he’ll still be worth it if he stuffs RBs.

The salary is all relative. Mike Glennon is getting $16M this season, and Brock Osweiler $21M. If Tannehill plays like he did last season, he’ll be “worth” it, whatever that means. Unless they want a draft a QB next season, or Tannehill either tanks or can’t stay on the field, I think gase is happy with Tannehill, who showed improvement with his offense last season.

Nothing I would like more than Tanny to show he is worth the money he is on the books for, but at the same time he re-signed for numbers that assumed that he would live up to his potential in exchange leaving the last years of his contract unprotected. Like that confidence. Yet after this seasons will leave us with the choice of do we want to pay him or some other guy there in free agency. Hopefully it will turn out “hell yeah we keep him” after next season, but that option will be there.

Brees, Cousins and Stafford. Brees is 38, Cousins 28, and Stafford 29. Those are the only guys that could possibly be an upgrade, but you’ll pay more for any of those guys because the salaries just keep going up. I think it’s more likely we draft a QB than sign one in FA.

Not saying it will happen, just that it is an option they have. And Gase was a QB coach…..could be he decides money can be spent better on some promising back-up for far less and put that money into other positions with maybe a top pick to develop at the same time. Or maybe he says Cousins is his guy. Or maybe Tanny blows the league away next season. Or maybe they bring some big FA in today by restructuring Tanny for another guaranteed year or two. His contract right now is what it is.

True, but at least the NFL has been a standard for a long time, and you can compare players more easily with that being the case. ESPN factors in a lot of situational football. You’ll have a higher rating if you lead a game winning drive. What happens though if you lead a game winning drive, and then your defense shits the bed, and you don’t get that boost in your stats? Just leave it the way it was.

MikeE,
That’s why I usually try to go with what I see on the field. Stats can be informative, but they can also be deceiving. In Tannehill, I see an average QB who won’t win or lose games for you. I think after 6 years he is already what he’ll be. If he could just get his TDs up to around 30, I’d feel better about what he does. I don’t really care about the other stats…just get the damn ball in the endzone. We aren’t winning anything if we don’t start scoring more.

Absolutely, Brees does put up some crazy stats. It actually made me think to myself, you know how everyone says if Tannehill just throws 30 TD’s we’d win 12 games and go deep in the playoffs. Brees threw 37 TD’s last year, 32 and 33 the previous 2 years, and couldn’t sniff the playoffs. It’s never just one thing, our defense was so bad at times, it may not have mattered.

we may have to cut our loses next season. The guy just hasn’t been the guy who could lead this franchise to the promise land. Come on, the guy was drafted in 1st round and there QB’s in league who were drafted in 5th round who lead his team to playoffs except 1 time during career.
Just maybe we should consult with Mike how good a QB we could have gotten with our 4th rounder last year instead of that guy that never plays or doesn’t even make the game day roster.

So long as Tannehill recovers 100% (there’s no reason to think otherwise, per reports), I think he’s going to ROCK this season. I’ve got 99 reasons why he WILL rock, so I’ll share two: we FINALLY have a running game to support him and we FINALLY have a seam-splitting TE (Julius Thomas) who isn’t concussed/knee injury/bad Draftee (see Jordan Cameron, Charles Clay, and Michael Egnew) to pair with a formidable WR corps.

If our O-Line holds up, Tanny could take us places this year… and our D is looking fierce enough to force 3-and-outs, giving our Offense more time to score points.

If the above numbers are attained, he’s worth paying the money we’re paying him (IMO). Of course, there will be other factors/situations/numbers to translate… this is a mere generic benchmark of expectations for paying Tannehill just north of $20M this season.

GENERALLY speaking and in a so-called ‘perfect world’ (and IMO)… if Tanny can’t attain the above numbers, it’s time to move on from him. He’s now a 5-year NFL starting QB, so he now is what he is. If after 6 years we’re still waiting for his testicles to drop (ie: excuse makers), it’s time to move on. There’s NO reason to be paying two players ‘QB money’ unless either are worth their weight in gold.

GOT INTO the Tannehill discussion a little late. But ONE FACTOR that’s been overlooked is the fact that Tanny played for two of the worst head coaches in Fins history (Sparano and Philbin) whereas Marino played most of his years for the Don of Miami.. Also, as much as I’d LIKE TO FORGET IRELAND, the TRUTH IS Tanny played for a team that was largely put together by the WORST GM IN DOLPHINS’ HISTORY!! Bad head coaches plus a horrid GM meant that Tannehill had two strikes against him from Day 1.–This is NOT to totally excuse him from his inconsistent play. FAR FROM IT. But if you put the entire mix together, Bad coaching, horrid GM, consistently poor play from the O-Line, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM A KID WHO HAS SO FEW GAMES AS A COLLEGE STARTING QB???
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I’M STILL WAITING to see what Tannehill can do with an offensive line that, for an entire season, is ranked in the Top 10 lines in the NFL To say that he’s been the victim of an under performing, often injured and under talented O-Line is to say the obvious. NO ONE expects this guy to be the next Marino or Peyton Manning. We’d just like to know if he can, indeed, toss 30 TD’s and fewer than a dozen picks in ONE SEASON?? Let’s all hope this current O-Line can STAY TOGETHER for this upcoming season so we can find out.

just who is this kid Dak Prescott.How is he paid 20 times less than tanny?If that’s so then he is a great bargain. Now what has our fourth rounder from last year done? I don’t remember him making any game changing plays. I believe that Dak guy even made the pro-bowl his rookie season.

TODAY’s paper notes that MLB games are now at a record length, 9 minutes longer than last year’s games!! Many are skewering commissioner Rob Manfred. They are WRONG!–Next season, Manfred can, by HIMSELF, put in the 30-second clock, limit catcher’s trips to the mound, and limit step-outs by batters WITHOUT THE PLAYERS’ ASSOCIATIONS APPROVAL (per the current CBA). I’d LOVE to see him do it! But one more major change is called for. I favor cutting 1 minute of time between the end of a half inning and the beginning of the next half inning. This would, by itself, cut 18 minutes off of a 9 inning game. But, of course, the owners likely WON’T give up those 18 1-minute commercials. OR WILL THEY?? With just these steps I’ve outlined, MLB can cut OVER 30 minutes from the average time of a 9-inning game.

The ironic thing about shortening the games in MLB is they’re doing it for people who won’t watch the games anyway. The people who love baseball aren’t complaining about the time of the game, it’s the casual fan (read YOUNGER fan) who wants everything now. Why taint the sport for those spoiled Millenials who would rather just watch the highlights the day after, if that? Just leave it be, and if the sport dies, it dies, but why butcher it to cater to people who aren’t really fans in the first place? JMO bud.

That’s your POV. I went to a game last year and it took over 4 hours, this year’s game was 2.5 hours, and let me tell you it was really nice. If you like to watch the grass grow, then you’re in the leave it alone group.

I can almost guarantee you if you look at the demographics for who complains about the game being too long, it’s not the hardcore baseball fans, but the casual fans who don’t have time to watch a 3 hour game because they don’t care enough to do so in the first place

For me it isn’t really the length, it’s the wasted time that makes things boring. Step out of the box before every pitch, take off your glove, put it back on…it annoys me as much as the unwritten rules. Someone getting missed off, because someone flipped a bat, WTF is That? If game was more physical they wouldn’t have to…

mf13ss says:
May 18, 2017 at 9:25 pm
If the O-Line is right (ie: the Cowboys), you can have GRAND years from rooks like Dak and Zeke. This is why Old Dolfan and I are hitting the nail HARD on as much.

By the way, it’s good talking to you, jetssuck! I’ve missed ya, buddy!
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Always GREAT to talk with you Been busy fixing this stubborn vacuum that won’t stand up and keeps falling down.This morning I conquered the world by getting the $4 part out of the vacuum after 3 months. These repair shops wanted to charge us 18.99 to put new part in and 10.99 for part. After 3 months of abuse of wife calling me idiot to educated idiot and grand kids having to vacuuming the whole house because the In-Laws vacuum is very heavy and they give me stinky eye every other day when it’s time to vacuum.I can’t wait to tell them the good news I got the old part out of vacuum. Now, I have to figure how to put the new part. Who’s the educated idiot.

The moral of the story for you guy’s is good things happen when you are patient. Maybe I’ll put the new part in less than 3 months or maybe I won’t. Who said life is fair?

To me, it’s really obvious why the game takes so long. Starting pitchers usually don’t go past the 7th inning, and sometimes they get pulled much earlier. That means endless pitching changes to exploit lefty/righty matchups, set up man and closer. It’s not the trips to the mound by the catcher, or pitchers taking too long to pitch, it’s the newer nature of the game and lack oF starting pitching talent, and the refusal of owners and managers to allow their $120M arms to go through the stress of throwing more than 100 pitches

Always GREAT to talk with you Been busy fixing this stubborn vacuum that won’t stand up and keeps falling down………I can’t wait to tell them the good news I got the old part out of vacuum. Now, I have to figure how to put the new part.

LOL!! This reminds me of a story my brother told me last month. His weed whacker stopped working so he took it to the repair shop down the mountain (he lives in the hills in Colorado) and they wanted $49.00 to fix it. (60 mile round trip) He asked what was wrong with it and they said the fuel hose dry rotted and was cracked. He was like fuck that, I’m not paying $49 for $0.05 of rubber hose so he goes home and goes on line to buy the hose part. Everywhere he looks they want at least $8.00 plus shipping for the hose. He’s like fuck that it’s 3″ of clear hose, I’m not paying $14 with shipping for 3″ of 1/4″ thick hose. So he keeps looking and finds a roll of the same hose 50′ long for $12.00 and buys it……

I was like wait, you spent $12.00 but wouldn’t pay $14.00? He’s like I GOT 50′ OF IT FOR $12.00 I AIN’T PAYING that for 3″ of hose!

But now you have 49′ 9″ of hose you don’t need and still need to fix it yourself…

“it’s the principle of it”

So I was talking to him last week and asked “did you ever get your weed whacker taken care of?”

He said “Yup, but I broke the spud trying to get the old hose off”

What did you do?

“I bought a new fucking weed whacker…..”

I laughed until I couldn’t breath and told him “well, at least you have 49’9” of hose you can hang yourself with….

THAT’S a good one but you never know when he might need that size hose again.. I think you missed my point I’m the only educated idiot but I have not vacuumed the place in 3-4 months. I’m not the educated idiot after all..

I get the grandkids to vacuum the place every other day. Now who’s the iducated idiot. I caught my cat rubbing her ass on carpet several years ago. Turns out she was eating the christmas tree tinsels. That cost a small fortune at the vet.

GREAT STORY, JS.
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I would not be true to my hockey roots if I didn’t make this comment on the Stanley Cup Conference Championships. The side of our family that lives in Tennessee was going WILD when the Predators blew through the first two rounds of the playoffs with easy wins over Chicago and St. Louis. Now they’re playing the Anaheim Ducks in the Western Conference Finals. The Preds took a 2-1 lead after 3 games. Game 4, last night, was in Nashville before a frenzied group of home town fans. Trailing 2-0 after 2 periods, the Predators stormed back and tied the game at 2-2 with just 13 seconds left in the final period. A win in overtime would give them a commanding 3-1 lead in the 7 game series. But it was not to be. With their captain out of the OT with a concussion he suffered when kicked in the head by a skate, they suffered an even greater loss when their top scorer was seriously injured. He limped through the overtime but it was obvious he was badly hurt. After Anaheim scored the winning goal in OT, this injured player was diagnosed with a serious injury to his femur that required surgery. He’s OUT for about 2-3 months, at least. So, instead of leading a 7-game series 3-1, the Nashville Predators face almost certain elimination, tied 2-2, with 2 of the final 3 games scheduled for ANAHEIM. NBC Sports commentator Keith Jones said “Nashville faces truly insurmountable odds minus these two key players.” Sometimes Lady Luck is a cold hearted bitch, eh?

Scott Barnett says
“Still, I see Pouncey’s return doing more for the running game than passing game. Among all 29 centers to play on at least 50 percent of their team’s snaps, Pouncey ranked ninth-best in pass-blocking efficiency in 2015. This is impressive, but Pouncey’s backups were more than adequate at protecting Tannehill in his replacement (zero sacks, two QB hits, 10 QB hurries across 648 snaps). The bigger boost will be for Miami’s running back Jay Ajayi. Last year, backup Anthony Steen was the worst run-blocking center in the league across his seven starts.”

I was never great in math, but regardless, I don’t think it’s the pitchers taking too long that slows the game. If you watched games in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, they were much faster, simply because there were far less pitching changes. Every pitching change is a delay of the game, and now, you can almost count on there being at least 2 pitching changes per game, with the advent of the set up man, and the closer. Add in the 7th inning specialist, and the countless lefty/righty specialists, and it just goes on and on. To me, it’s very shortsighted to try to speed up the game by rushing pitchers delivery to the plate, but again, that’s just me. The game has changed, and unless anew philosophy emerges where starting pitchers are encouraged to throw 130 or more pitches per game, the game will be slow.

So since we are sharing stories…..will offer up one from Friday night. We are a dinner with two other couples. Wife puts me on orders not to do/mention three things and then does them all. I turn to Dameon (faux UK Phin, who will be at the Fest) and explain that adding, “how does she get get away with these things that I couldn’t?” His quick British reply….”haven’t you noticed yet that you don’t exactly look like her.” 🙂

As you can see, Jay Ajayi succeeded DESPITE our O-Line. And as you can see, our O-Line still ranked in the 3rd tier giving up Sacks.

Are either Ted Larson or 5th Round rookie Asiata an upgrade from Tunsil at LG from last year? Has Pouncey finally discovered the ‘Fountain of Youth’? Will Bushrod (I wanted to re-sign him as a backup) improve from last year, or is ‘Father Time’ going to set in? Is James finally going to live up to his 1st Round status?

I would say we need to further address the O-Line. And if we put too much on Ajayi, that bone-on-bone in his knee is going to haunt our house.

Not that anyone who’s evaluating has it completely right, but Ajayi did most of his damage after first contact. I’ve said that many times to anyone preaching how good the running game was. Also, he did most of his big damage in 6 games, including (3) 200+ yard games

I totally agree with ya, Mike E. And most of his big damage was in the 5 games that Pouncey was on the field. Once Pouncey goes down again, our contingency plans will not live up to expectations. I don’t care if we have 4 players on the roster who can play Center, we will be significantly weaker because they suck.

THIS is one of the reasons Old Dolfan and I were VERY high on drafting Pat Elflein.

mf13ss says:
May 20, 2017 at 12:55 pm
Thank you!!! Yes, Mangold is an option. Problem is we’re probably betting on Pouncey to be healthy this year and by the time he goes down, another team will likely have already signed Mangold.
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lets not forget Pouncey made the probowl as a guard and that’s his natural position from HS and college. The position change could help him medically with less stress on hips during the pre-snap position he takes.

I hear ya, but in this case, the damage has already been done to Pouncey’s body. Even if we wrap him in ‘bubble wrap’, he’d probably catch a large splinter while sitting on the bench.

I’ve got NOTHING against Mike Pouncey whatsoever, but to mortgage our season on his health is most unwise. And to sign Nick Mangold right now would be sending the wrong message to Pouncey, undermining Gase’s strong faith in Pouncey. This is quite the conundrum, buddy!

Mangold might make some of the guard feel uncomfortable…..but they are all on compete status anyhow. Gotta figure that Pouncey’s main concern is his health. He knows he is starting so long as he is good to go.

He himself has said Guard is his
natural position. We might have a very impressive line with mangold (center) multiple probowls and pouncey(guard)(center backup)
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I suppose that’s a possibility. Actually, that’s a damn good idea on second thought if we can make it happen. I’m seeing your vision, jetssuck!

The question now becomes: why hasn’t Mangold been signed? Is his heart still in football or is he considering retirement? Is he healthy now after being placed on IR last year? How much money does he want?

If we can make this happen and if the price is right, I cosign on your idea.

you have to figure the crouched position during the pre snap is where most of his damage of the hips is coming. Hell how many seconds is he in the low crouched position before snapping the ball. That position of crouching so low as he does isn’t going to help his degenrating hips. The move to guard is less crouching during pre snap and that alone may help prolong his career

I could have EASILY stolen jetssuck’s individual thought as my own, but I’m NOT THAT GUY. I give CREDIT to original thought. I’m one of the most decent individuals one will ever meet, and you can see it by my actions.

ON ANOTHER HOT TOPIC: – – –
Currently it is 96 degrees in the north Tampa suburbs and the temps are still climbing. The last 3 days the highs in Tampa have been 98, 97 and 98 with some of the suburbs hitting triple digits. These highs are running about 10-12 degrees above normal for the days. New record highs for these days are breaking old records by 3-4 degrees. And Tampa has been keeping weather records since the 1850’s!! Governor Rick Scott still believes there’s no such thing as climate change. And he suggests that those reporting these temps have “hidden agendas.” He even fired a former staffer who used the term “climate change” when answering a question from a reporter. Talk about “hidden agendas” – – WOW! The flat earth advocates must be smiling.

Miami Herald:
The Dolphins have no plans to sign free agent C Nick Mangold.
Miami could use insurance for Mike Pouncey (hip), but Mangold wants a starting job and more money than the Dolphins could offer. It sounds like Miami will move forward with Kraig Urbik and Anthony Steen behind Pouncey. The Ravens are Mangold’s most likely landing spot.

I thought the OL…while dealing with lots of turmoil and player changes…played OK last year. They weren’t outstanding, but they weren’t bad either. Like pretty much the whole offense, they were too inconsistent last year. They most definitely need to improve, but I saw improvement last year over 2 years ago. I think they contributed to the individual success of other players, but they need to do it more consistently and at a higher level. The same can be said for everyone on this offense.

Randy, Christensen has said their biggest issue was a low number of snaps on offense. Their production per play numbers were good, just not enough of them. That’s how you go from average to top notch. Control the game with TOP and points.

Mando says he isn’t projected to start. Who cares who starts in our rotational positions? This guy will make a huge contribution when he’s on the field, and gives us run stuffing ability we’ve sorely lacked.

You can’t always substitute guys in and out every play. Good OCs will take advantage of defenses who need to sub guys in all the time by not letting them. NE does this all the time. Better to have a guy who can do both. Part of why I don’t like guys who are one dimensional. They can be kept off the field, and a smart QB will change up the play and take advantage of their weakness. You would prefer to have starters who are complete players.

Wasn’t talking every play, more about who is logical for the base and who is for the nickle. Plan last year was to turn Wake into a pass rushing specialist. Didn’t work out with Mario going down, but am guessing they will try to go that way this year with Hayes in there and a now proven Branch. Pretty clear what Harris’ strong suit is as well.

The term “starter” is irrelevant and ‘coach-speak’. Our base 4-3 D will feature Branch and Hayes opposite one another as DEs… FACT . Why? MR. Wake is being utilized as a pass-rushing specialist under Gase, as will the rook Charles Harris, who isn’t yet proficient against the run.

The term “starter” can be defined in SO many ways… hence ‘coach-speak’. Hayes’ run-stopping proficiency all but guarantees he’s a STARTER in our base 4-3, 1st-and-10 Defense.

You ever see an offense have confusion and not get the play off on time? A lot of times it’s based on what the defense is showing and they need to get out of the play or get the right matchups. If it was that easy teams would never huddle and always go hurry up.

now if they plan on running a double reverse they have to correctly remember they are more than likely going to end up with alternative facts and confusion won’t help with all the practice time in the world. Black may be white for some people and black may be black for the other.

stanger,
I was just sort of commenting on 1 or 2 down players as opposed to 3 down guys. I just meant you’re better off with more of those guys instead of having to go to multiple sub packages all the time. Probably just a dumb comment because the NFL is a package league. Lol
***
I think you’re right. Our DE situation is fairly clear in terms of what guys do best. We’ll have to wait and see how the young fellas develop.

THANK YOU, HERD, for the nice comments. I started out life in an orphanage in Canada. Two older folks adopted me when I was just a few months old. At age 7, Mom & Dad decided it was time to move to the United States. I was thrilled! However, the thrill was somewhat diminished by 5 brutal winters in Buffalo. But when Mom & Dad moved to Florida, the “THRILL WAS BACK, BIG TIME!” Ever since then, I have considered myself 100% American. I was not a supporter of the way the two major parties were running the Vietnam War. But, unlike some, I never wavered in my support of “my” country. The two years I spent on active duty were the two most important years of my life. I learned to overcome adversity. And, in doing so, I helped thousands of American war casualties who really needed help.
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The United States has given me everything I have in life. A family. An education. A job I love dearly. I can not possibly put into words how thankful I am.

Thanks Herd for the kind words and thought.. Memorial Day is a day to celebrate those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Those of us who served and are still kickin’ get our day on Veteran’s Day. I would echo OD’s sentiments – everything I have and everything I am I owe to America. Not the least of which was allowing me to serve (and not grow up!) for 21 years.

You want to know why we won’t make the playoffs…..just read the five reasons why from a dude on “Musket Fire”.

“Despite these great players on the roster, the Dolphins are due for a downswing in 2017. Just like the 2014 Bills and 2015 Jets, tough times are coming for Miami in their attempt to knock-off New England. ”

pheloniusphish says:
May 22, 2017 at 8:56 am (Edit)
Thanks Herd for the kind words and thought.. Memorial Day is a day to celebrate those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Those of us who served and are still kickin’ get our day on Veteran’s Day. I would echo OD’s sentiments – everything I have and everything I am I owe to America. Not the least of which was allowing me to serve (and not grow up!) for 21 years.

Well now. If not the two groups you mention, who is Armed Forces Day for? And it really doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t take a special day for anyone to say thank you or show their appreciation. I have the right to have all these opinions and views and can freely say them here or anywhere for that matter thanks to people like you.

Ha….It is always a good idea! You know, I am not sure about Armed Forces Day. I suppose it is for the guys still on active duty? I always appreciate someone thanking me for my service and didn’t mean to imply you did or said something wrong.

Actually I always feel lkke I should be thanking people for letting me serve. Where else was I going to get to paid to roam the globe and act like a juvenile if not the Corps?

Semper Fidelis my friend. Obviously not as long as you, but one of my god parents’ sons was like the shyest kid you ever met. He served in the crew for a 155 mm howitzer for three years (even if non-combat areas). And came back a man. Told him then “do you realize this is the first time you ever looked me in the eyes.”

Flips it right back to up to him though. I never even caught what was going on about that. Would be sad if he stormed off cause of just what a poster or two said. Still up to him though…..we each have our own way in life.

Stanger, neither did I. I saw the plagiarism thing being discussed but never knew what it was about. We can’t really plagiarize here anyway, we’re not paid for our comments so no profit, no plagiarism.

Whatever it was it was I guess. But we can both agree that Prof Lou is one of the best around…..real smart football mind and great guy to boot. Just hope he is doing well. And smart as he is am sure it is about more than just this blog and the other one.

Not sure about the draft but far as I can figure Lou both brought us Larsen (he was all over him) and got Bushrod to not retire simply by pissing him off on twitter. Lot more than I have done…..am missing me some Prof Lou.

…We can’t really plagiarize here anyway, we’re not paid for our comments so no profit, no plagiarism.
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Tim, plagiarism has absolutely nothing to do with getting paid or for profit, my friend. You’re thinking about copyright infringement, which IS about getting paid or for profit… two separate items here, though they do overlap in certain aspects and issues. The only reason I know this is because I’m both a writer and an independent music producer/lyric writer (ASCAP)… it’s my job to know the difference to protect my work, whether offensively or defensively.

That stated, I’m not trying to revisit the several feuds amongst us posters regarding plagiarism over the years, and no names need to be mentioned to reopen old wounds. I agree that most of the feuding has had more to do with ball-busting taken as a personal attack. And I agree with Stanger that sometimes there are things going on in one’s life that adversely affect their ‘blog life/behavior’… been there and done that myself, as have most of us.

I think our group as a whole (BOTH blogs) is comprised of good, decent people. But when ya have so many people involved, conflicts and disagreements will occur at times. What’s awesome is that our group has managed to resolve conflict and agree to disagree so as to put negative thought behind us, for the most part. And we’ve seen old friends come back after long departures, as well. 🙂

I think the least mentioned team wide improvement we picked up is team speed. Which is not always a function of 40 yd dash times, but takes into account lateral mobility, quick first step, quick-twitch athletes, high motor guys, see-ball-get-ball guys, guys who are adept at sifting through the trash (using quick feet), quick-rise jumpers, and even quick-punch hand-fighters.

These talents vary from position to position, but can be quantified by the number of career INTs Lawrence Timmons has or the number of blocked FGs Vince Taylor has or the number of pancakes Asiata got from his heavy-hands initial punch knocking guys off balance. We got a thumper MLB who has excellent upfield speed, the best spin-move in NCAA last yr in Harris a DT known for jumping the snap count really well, defeating double teams and wrecking blocking assignments. A 4.4 CB,

Thanks MF13 – your words are much appreciated. 22 dead, 59 injured. Cowardly despicable suicide bomber targeting innocent children at a concert. My g/f, her sis and their 2 daughters were at the same venue 4 nights before this attack. Just atrocious. So sad. Going to go to the gym now to let off some steam.

I WAS ABSOLUTELY THRILLED watching the Nashville Predators clinch the Western Conference title and a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals last night in front of a delirious. sell-out, crowd in Nashville. Yes, this is THE SAME Predators team that lost star player Ryan Johannson and their captain, Mike Fisher just a few days ago and were given up for DEAD by NBCSN hockey expert
Keith Jones! Who could have forecast that Colton Sisson, a virtual unknown, would score a HAT TRICK in the deciding 6th game? Who’d believe that goalie Pecka Rienne would make spectacular save after spectacular save?? And who would have picked this band of nobodies to get outshot 41-18 AND STILL WIN THE GAME?? It had all the drama, all the intrigue, and a ton of unexpected moments. THIS is what the STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS have been all about this season. NASHVILLE, the 8th seed, blew out the #1 seeded Chicago Black Hawks in 4 straight games in round one – – a TRUE SHOCKER!! Now they, and their fans, stand on the edge of winning the toughest title to win in PROFESSIONAL SPORTS – – “WE WANT THE CUP,” chanted the crowd as the post game celebrations continued for a very long time.
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I can’t wait for the FINALS!

Lol at you calling them left for dead after game 4. It seems every prediction you make turns out this way. From your midway NL predictions last year, to anything FIU related😉 please predict the Fins to suck this year and the cheats to win it again.

Man, sad stuff in Manchester UK. Eerily, it reminded me of a Stephen King book I read last year, similar MO. I got a chill when heard what the bomb was, and that it was at a concert attended mostly by kids. Prayers to all those families.

That’s the world we live in now, thanks to a certain president and Secretary of State. They put personal gains before the good of the country/world, and yet people like Coney/ Lynch And the rest of the swamp will still spew out all the stuff they do and pretend it has merit.

Yes, it is a volatile world, but the actions and inaction of the White House over the last 8 years certainly contributed. Beginning with the continued de-stabilization of the middle east and northern Africa that started under Bush, through Benghazi, to the philosophies of “all they really need are jobs” and “let’s not call them what they are” – Islamic terrorists.

Truly awful Mike E. The youngest was a girl of 8. It reminded me of the crazed fascist who went off the rails and shot 80 schoolchildren on the Norwegian island. It is a sad, sad world when people commit atrocities like this. Life is so short anyway and for it to be cut shorter by people who are fuelled by hate is a tragic waste. RIP to all those lost and thoughts and prayers to the families.

The tragedy has to come first……those poor young kids and their families. Used to be such happened when mental illness was involved, but now there are groups that try to foster and develop the same kind of thoughts and actions in a purposeful manner.

steveccnv says:
May 23, 2017 at 10:11 am
Who do you think gave rise to ISIS Mike? If Hilary had won we’d all be done. Why do you think Trump got the royal treatment in Saudi Arabia, because hes the only hope the world has to defeating ISIS.
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I thought 60 plus nations were fighting in a coalition to extinguish ISIS. Are we now breaking away from the coalition and going this alone. Does anyone know why the first day of their embassy re-opening in Iraq it was bombed and a riot occurred outside their embassy gates. Very odd times

Every administration makes friends with people who later become our enemies, and anger enemies to the point in which they enlist other enemies against us. I find it hard to blame a specific administration for things that cycle out of control. If it makes you feel better though, carry on. It doesn’t change where we’re at one iota.

Please don’t think IS is a US problem. It is a global problem. Ask Germans, French, Brits, Belgians ………. there is a long list of countries IS (sic ……. these turds have as much to do with Islam as Hitler did with Catholicism) have targeted with their atrocities.

Indeed. This guy appears to be Libyan – Salman Abedi. Italy (due to its geography) has already had 40k refugees fleeing from Africa and to a lesser extent Syria. They are scheduled to receive £100k this year. That’s the people who survive. These people flee in all manner of vessels most of which are no seaworthy and perish making the crossings. The world is a truly f***ed up place sometimes.

If I was in Syria……I would be looking to get out as well. And should not throw stones at those from the other countries trying to do so as well. Just as a bad situation there as well even if not in the news as much. Whenever I look at such, try to figure out what I would be trying to do if I was them. Merkel is my favorite world leader right now btw.

I’ve watch every run play of last year and I noticed he gets 2 and 3 players contacting him when the play is on his side. Philips is gaining respect in NFL in that he gets doubled teamed almost 48% of time when the play is towards his side. We may have one of the best DT teams in the NFL. He has a lot of moves similar to Suh.

Stanger,
In regards to Schadd I agree 100% McCain is fighting for a roster spot. He hasn’t progressed as much as I thought he would at nickel. I think Lippett is safe unless he has a meltdown of Brittany Spears proportions.

Armando Salguero‏Verified account @ArmandoSalguero 6m6 minutes ago
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Suh: “I’m definitely sick and tired of making the playoffs and not going any further… The last two games last year I’m not ok with that.”

actually no it doesn’t take that long of time with the advent of the button on remote that you point at tv and it magically responds to buttons you push, but the point I’m trying to point out to you every remote has a button with 2 arrows which makes the recorded video of games or shows amount to only 15-18 minutes of plays or shows during your recording.

There is a button you can hit when you notice its a passing play so you can skip the passing play and when you want to watch just running plays, in essence you can cut down watching time. I hit the double arrow button. Still trying to figure out how in the world the remote control knows what all these buttons and tells the TV and from as far as 30-40 feet.
Now what would be amazing if you could ride down the block and change other people’s channel they are watching. You know I have my router named “Homeland Security Surveillance” and I had some neighbors talking about it for a while.

McCain is entering year 3 but not sure why he gets written off all the time. He was a 2nd year player learning a new defense and we had a lot of different lineups week to week due to injuries and he had to play outside some of the time. Give him a chance to improve his game. He wasn’t the only one who got beat at times.

Tim,
In regards to immaturity his college coach mentioned that as one of the biggest things he would need to overcome as he had trouble controlling his emotions at Memphis. He also was one of 2 Jack asses in the locker room incident at the end of 2015 yelling & hollering at reporters while instantgramming or whatever during the Tannehill Grimes debate to end the year.

Timmons said today that he played every LB position in PIT and considers himself interchangeable. The team has already said Alonso can play every LB position so I wouldn’t worry much about who plays where. As long as they’re productive who cares?

Book on Timmons though is one bad-ass MLB to stop the run who is not as well suited as far as coverage. You thinking we might throw him on the outside and get him on TEs? I don’t really care who plays where so long as it works but thinking Alonso is our best coverage guy.

All LBs have to cover when it’s a pass unless they’re blitzing. There is also this fallacy that so many LBs in this league are really good in coverage except for ours. If that was the case why so much passing and big numbers being put up throughout the league? It all starts up front with pressure. If you can’t do that I don’t care who you have in the back end, you’re going to get carved up.

I agree with all of that Tim. Was just thinking would rather see Alonso than TImmons in coverage if it came to it. Even if all Lbs have to cover at times am just thinking that some of them might be better at than others. Seems a coach would try to put them in the best spot for that……just like I am looking forward to seeing TImmons go after QBs.

Stanger, sure you do that for matchups. Timmons is really good at blitzing and rushing the passer so he might be the LB that blitzes the most. But you can’t be so predictable all the time. Timmons has covered quite a bit in his career. LBs usually zone cover anyway where they’re responsible for a part of the field – in the flats or over the short and medium middle. It’s not like you want your OLBs running from one side of the field to the other in man. It turns into man in your zone. That’s how the quarters defense is set up.

For sure Timmons will find himself in coverage at times….heck Phillips got a pick last year. Just was thinking he would be a run stuffer and blitzer (yes thinking he will be there in the nickel). But that goes with both how I see him and being MLB in the base….but for sure they might chose to do it differently. And on of the reasons I loved resigning Alonso was seems he is a jack-of-all trades…..even if that meant to me a kick butt and maybe all-pro Will.

One of the main things Matt Burke feels needs to be fixed on defense is communication – being on the same page, and tackling. I think our overall tackling was bad last year and part of that was because we were not in the right place, or 2nd guessing and getting trapped out of the play. The team has said they need to play smarter more fundamental football all around.

That’s how Belichick has had so much success not having all world talent. They don’t mess up a lot and the guys who do, they get cut.

All great stuff to go towards. And I am loving how much better looks like our tackling will be. And that goes to Timmons, Raekwon and having Reshad back. Coverage still concerns me though….but then the rush D had to come first anyhow.

Stanger, you know early on in the season our pass defense was pretty good. We were ranked pretty highly (#9 at one point) for like half the season. Then the injuries started to mount up and we had different LBs and DBs playing every week. Some of them not really ready to play that much and some maybe not good enough at all.

So to me, health is probably going to be the biggest key in us having a successful season. We have plenty of talent. This is not a team that needs 3-4 players to be great or we’re doomed. This is a team with 12 plus players who can change a game. Best roster we’ve had in a long time. There will be some tough cuts this year and I think that will because the middle and bottom of the roster got better.

No doubt our depth is a lot better. If anything am hoping we will be able to survive people going down better. Even if better there are certain people if they go down will hurt us bad…..just like with Reshad and Pouncey last year. But injuries happen to every team.

I recall a story a couple of years ago about a girl named ISIS (not to be confused with a boy named Sue) who was upset with the acronym ISIS in reference to the Islamic State. I believe around that time was when it also started to be referred to as IS, ISIL, and the shitheads of the middle-east.

As a side note, I’ve been thinking of suing Universal studios for their mischaracterization of those named ‘Kong”. We are not all dumb apes that get shot off of buildings.

Lawrence Timmons is a player i have closely followed ever since high school and a guy I have always rated very highly.
He is from a town where i have history (Florence, SC) and was recruited by my college before their recent surge.
“At Wilson high, During his senior year, Timmons registered over 150 tackles and two sacks, while also catching 47 passes for over 800 yards and five touchdowns as a tight end, which earned him all-state first-team honors. He was also awarded as the Defensive Player of the Year.
In track & field, Timmons competed in the long jump event, recording a career-best leap of 6.55 meters at the 2003 SCHSL State Championships, where he placed sixth in the finals. He was also a member of the 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m relay squads and was timed at 4.6 seconds in the 40-yard dash.
He decided to go to [our rival] Florida State, where I of course watched every minute that he played there on TV.He has 43 PDs (passes defensed) and 12 INTs in 9 full seasons as he barely played in 2007 because he was James Harrison’s back-up his rookie year, even though he was a First Round Draft pick @ #15.
(He has also caused 14 fumbles in his 10 years.) He has 35.5 NFL sacks. He is a playmaker.
At the combine, he put up 25 reps, jumped 10’3 broad and a vert of 35 inches and ran a 4.63 40 at 234 lbs.”
(thanks to wikipedia)

Yep — he is good both with hand in the dirt and as a guy coming in quick from stand-up at LB. He’s both tough and big enough and fast enough to do both. Just like Wake could when he was a 3-4 OLB. Am sure that was all you meant you learned…. 🙂

I can’t believe you remember that. He was a really cool guy. VERY approachable, and happy to take pics with some of my coworkers.
————-
E-40 is HUGE in my industry, man… I wouldn’t be able to forget that! If you didn’t already know, he and Terrell Davis (now in the Hall of Fame) are very good friends.

I’ve never heard a bad word said about Earl Stevens (E-40’s real name).

I was a big fan of The Click in the 90’s. I was listening to their street tapes before they made it big(they flooded Sacramento to get play). I stopped listening to rap around the start of the 2000’s but I still have some of their music in my collection.

My wife’s family up in PA say the Pitt fans are pissed they let Timmons walk.
He terrorized the Dolphins in the playoff game last year with a team-leading 14 combined tackles and sacked Matt Moore twice in a 30–12 AFC Wild Card Round victory

In one clip, Tiimmons runs stride for stride laterally with Tyrod and forces him to pitch to LeSean who is 2 steps from out of bounds for basically no gain. In another clip he jumps the TE’s hook route into the end zone and picks Eli clean for a 30 yd return (approx). In another he smothers his man for 25 yds downfield running stride for stride.

The OG version of the Click’s “Down and Dirty” ROCKS! I’m talking about the SMG (Solar Music Group, RIP, Dick Griffey) version, not the Jive re-release years later.
————
Cav Kong, I think you and Jahndoh are the only ones who know of The Click regarding those of us who post on these blogs! Perhaps Brian from NY does as well, but not sure.

for an “over the hill” guy, Timmons sure is durable AND dependable.
He has only missed 2 games in his 10 years and
has averaged over 90% of Pittsburgh’s defensive snaps for the last 3 years.
He might be even better with a little rotation depth.

This offseason the RBs are going to be worked at fakes, picking up blitzes and doing a better job as receivers. They can all run. It’s time for smarts. Another young position we forget about along with WR. We’re very young throughout the team with some really good young talent.

For people that don’t know Douglas Adams. The search for the answer to life, the universe, and everything turns out to be forty-two, which begs the question: what is the actual question to life, the universe, and everything.

It goes something like this:

Question: What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?
Answer: Forty-two
Question: Huh?
Clarification: In order to understand the answer, you have to know what the actual question is.
Question: What is the question to life, the universe, and everything?
Answer: What do you get if you multiply six by nine?
Corollary: No wonder the world is so fucked up.

Its not going to cause chaos, they’ll already have the bottom 30 or so slated for cuts, and worry about the last few, just like before, they just won’t have to do the cut down twice. They asked for it, I’m pretty sure they know what they’re doing.

CavalierKong says:
May 23, 2017 at 8:41 pm
For people that don’t know Douglas Adams. The search for the answer to life, the universe, and everything turns out to be forty-two, which begs the question: what is the actual question to life, the universe, and everything.

It goes something like this:

Question: What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?
Answer: Forty-two
Question: Huh?
Clarification: In order to understand the answer, you have to know what the actual question is.
Question: What is the question to life, the universe, and everything?
Answer: What do you get if you multiply six by nine?
Corollary: No wonder the world is so fucked up.
———————————————————————————————
My wife birthday is Jan-4, 1973—— 143 I tell her I married her because she was born on that day..But when I want to piss her off she was born a fool on 4-1 april 1st as some foreign countries list the day first then the month and finally the yr.

She is the Dolphin chosen one—Don Shula’s birthday is Jan 4 same as her’s.
Dolphins first SB win happen Jan 14, 1973 exactly ten days after she was born—-10 is associated with perfect on a scale of 1-10
143—- 1 (4 plus 3) =17 which they went 17-0

Gase on what he wants out of Tanny — been thinking he should take off more too with his speed, but if nothing else this should tell us his knee is looking good. No way Gase says that if not so.
—————————
“Just be more aggressive. I really want him to feel comfortable that his decision is going to be right. If he feels like something is not really happening the way he wants, escape from the pocket and not hesitate and worry about, ‘Did I miss something?’”

“He’s a perfectionist so he wants to be able to stand back there and go through his progression, go one to two to his checkdown. Guys that have athletic ability, that can run, want to prove they can be a great pocket passer. All I care about is getting the first down and scoring points.”

On Gase saying to take off, he says it, because he doesnt want him to worry about the injury or what couldve been (on the play). F what people say, just be decisive, and take what’s there. You don’t have to hit a homer every play, singles are good too.

You go until you puke is what my son’s Tae Kwondo instructor told them. Puking isnt a sign of weakness, just the opposite. Timmons goes until he pukes, gathers himself, them continues. What more can you ask For? It’s not the first time he puked during a game.

I never played anything close to the NFL level, but your body for sure adjusts to the temperature of where you live and train (have done both real cold and hot). That thin blood thing is not a myth and neither is our heat advantage for the early games. So I am guessing we don’t see Timmons puke this year come regular season.

I have neighbor that has a daughter that is a principle at a public school down here and she tells me all the new construction schools have a requirement of providing cover where the kids can play in the shade and avoid the rain. This canopy is usually over outdoor basketball courts. Times have changed. We didn’t have A/C in our school till 4th grade. These grandkids always want me to change the temp down more when I’m freezing at 85 degrees.

Its not going to cause chaos, they’ll already have the bottom 30 or so slated for cuts, and worry about the last few, just like before, they just won’t have to do the cut down twice.

Steve, perhaps Chaos was the wrong word. The teams are going to have to scramble like roaches when the lights come on. …..yeah Chaos. Before they had time to review other teams first round of cuts, grab guys, cut guys to make room, etc before the second round of cuts came. NOW 1184 players will all hit the street at one time, so yeah there will be chaos.

When have you ever heard of teams evaluating other teams first round of cuts? So what your saying is the FOs of NFL teams sadistically wanted to change the rules, so they can run around like chickens with their heads cutoff? Come in man!

The change gives them more of a chance to evaluate their own 90 in a game. Are you a grass is greener type? When the starters don’t play week4 in the past guys that already made the team were put at risk to injury, because there was no one left to play.

JK-I keep the inside at 74-75 and we sleep at the coldest the room a/c can get us to. When we get in the 50’s we open the windows while we see everyone dressed like they are at the North pole. I see the kids dressed in full face covers. I hate s.florida weather because we only have 1 season-hot

Rock, ask the coaches and bottom of roster players what they think about having 1 cut down. I’m sure they love it. You’ve got 30 pinkslips already filled out, you hand them out a week later, what’s the big deal?

Steve, I never said that teams want to sadistically change the rules so they can run around with like chickens. They obviously, IMO, changed the rules so they have more time with their borderline guys to make the decision. I guarantee every team DOES review every other teams cuts to try and upgrade their bottom of the roster or practice squad. Now they have to do it all at once.

A lot of the things the NFL is doing these days is to help prevent injuries. The 90 man roster through the PS is one way. There is also chatter that they will do away with OT and it may come down to a FG competition. They don’t want to play a 5th quarter anymore.

I just noticed the score in the picture of Timmons puking above was 8-15. Does anyone remember how Pitt scored 8? Did they go for two or was it one of the games where our offence spotted them two by taking a safety? (didn’t we have like three safeties scored against us one year?)

I dig the rule change to allow for more time to evaluate your players rather than having a first round of cuts. I’ve never understood why you get a limit to the amount of time you get to spend with your full roster when it is still the preseason.

The OT change doesn’t really make much difference IMO, although if it was in effect last year, we tie with the Bills and end up 9-6-1.

The quote from Gase on Tanny is another in a long line of things I love about the way Gase handles business, mostly because I really like the way Gase attacks things. After having coaches like Tony “never met a FG he didn’t like” Sparano and Joe “queasy” Philbin, it’s nice to have a coach that ratchets up the intelligent aggressiveness. Of course if Tanny blows out his knee in game 2 of the season on an ill-conceived run, he’ll take some bad press, but the fact is, we’re not going to beat the Pets with FGs and playing it safe, so go at it head on and let the cards fall as they may.

Love hearing over and over how the culture of this team is so much different – positive with lots of energy and enthusiasm. Fasano chiming in was big, he was here under Sparano and Philbin for one year so he kind of knew where the team was at in those days.

So it seems to me that Hayes with rotate with Wake on the left side and Harris with Branch on the right. Hayes played on the left side a lot with the Rams. But he also played inside on rush downs too so this could get interesting.

I also noticed we signed 3 UDFAs who were more rush ends than LBs but might move to LB in the NFL. One is similar to Haasan Reddick and his teammate at Temple Praise Martin-Oguike 6-1 255. We targeted a lot of edge personnel this offseason including re-signing our own.

The good thing about this is that Hayes and Branch are known to play the run well but it’s not like they have no pass rush. Wake and Harris are in the game on obvious passing downs. They both have that quick off the ball low end edge rush ability. Harris is a rookie and has to prove he can do it on the next level but I’m confident he’s the real deal. At least now I am. LOL

It’s so cool to say oh man we have this guy and that guy, this guy making an impact over here this guy making an impact over there, You say “oh man we added Timmons, we added Thomas, Jones is back, Pouncey is back, got a lot of new faces on the front seven, things are looking good, Coach Gase by all indications is really shaping this team and building something” and with each person or thing you list at the end you can always add –
And we have Suh!

Well Tim technically there are four 15-minute quarters so if overtime is only 10 minutes how can it be a “quarter” also there can only be four quarters of anything so if you have another extra ten minute period it’s not a quarter

When we got Suh, Polian I believe said, it’s not going to do any good to have Suh, if you don’t have the LBs to make the tackles. Meaning they’ll double and triple Suh, taking him out of the play, making him irrelevant.